There have been a variety of methods and techniques developed in the past for building structures that retain material. Some of these structures have been temporary, while others have been intended to be permanent. For example, during times of flooding or expected flooding, temporary levees are sometimes erected using sand bags that are filled and stacked. This type of structure is very labor intensive and is temporary in nature.
There have been attempts to develop alternative methods of erecting temporary levees such as those taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,390,154. However, the shape of the bag and method of using the bag described in that patent restricts the use of the bag to a limited number of environments and filling material.
Alternatively, it is known to build retaining walls that require preformed bricks or stones to be stacked and supported so that material is retained such as a hillside or other embankment. Erecting these types of retaining structures is expensive in both the materials and transporting them to the work site. Also, skilled installers are required for all but the simplest structures to ensure the retaining structure has the structural integrity to perform as expected.
There remains the need, therefore, for a bag and a system and method for using that bag to build a retaining structure that is flexible in the structures that can be constructed, that is flexible in the variety of material that can be used to fill the bag, that is simple to use, and can reduce the costs of building retaining structure, whether temporary or semi-permanent.